Cycle finished, now how about cleaning tank and filter?

[yorkite]

Been cycled for a couple days now (still keeping a close watch on it though by testing), and I'd like to get things cleaned up in the tank now that I think I'm in the clear.....It was a fish-in cycle, and all went well with no losses.

I'm running a Cascade 700 canister filter, and a custom sponge filter in a 50 gallon. Have a few live plants as well. From what I understand, I don't want to gravel vac too close or directly above them, just around the vicinity of them?

Also what I'm asking is what order should I be cleaning things up, from gravel-vac'ing, to cleaning the sponge, and canister - in some sort of timeline. I did not mess with the filter at all while cycling, and did very little gravel cleaning. Also have some slight algae on the glass, but nothing serious.

Just don't want to reset the cycle, or do anything to set myself back now that I've gotten this far.

Thanks in advance!

 

[SKB]

How long has the tank been running just to be sure? If anything, all I did was a little water change and scrub the walls where brown algea was. If you want to clean the filter, wipe it off in the tank water you take out.

 

[yorkite]

How long has the tank been running just to be sure?

It's been running for about a month and a half, and I just got all the nitrites and ammonia to zero for about 3-4 days, with about 10 for nitrates.
I understand you don't want to clean filter media in anything but tank water.

Being so newly cycled (or still slightly cycling), just not sure what to clean first, and how often.

 

[jlk]

It really depends on your stocking/bioload. Some people only need to clean their filter media once every few weeks. Others with messy fish need to do it weekly. You want to stagger any filter cleaning you do (one thing one week, next another week, etc). Make sure you are rinsing it in tank water (not tap).

For gravel cleaning, it depends on the size of your tank and how messy your fish are. A small tank can be gravel vac'd once every week or two. A larger tank can be done in sections (half or 1/3 one week, another section the next week, etc). If you have very messy fish, you may want to do all of it weekly.

I clean the front and sides of the glass weekly (never the back) because I am bit ocd about keeping it clean but my tanks have been established for quite awhile. You may want to start off with one side one week, next the following week and see how this goes. Hope this helps!

 

[yorkite]

Would it be unwise to gravel vac 1/3 or 1/2, clean some of the glass, and clean one of the filter sponges all in one day?

Just lookin' kinda nasty in there, with a good amount of debris floating around.

I have 2 mollies and 2 platys in there, among other fish, but the mollies and platys are the messiest i think.

 

[jlk]

As its newly cycled, I would try to stagger everything a bit right now. Your fine to do more than wc in a week to do this. Say, wc with partial grav vac and glass cleaning. Then in a couple of days if everything stays stable, clean some filter media. Then in a couple more days (and everything stays stable), clean some more glass and grav vac another section. If you see any spikes in parameters at any point, then wait a bit longer between cleanings. Eventually, as your tank becomes more established, you should be able to do gravel vacs and glass cleaning on a regular basis without any issues. Filter media can be cleaned as needed. Let your parameters be the judge if your overcleaning or doing sufficient cleaning.

 

[yorkite]

As its newly cycled, I would try to stagger everything a bit right now. Your fine to do more than wc in a week to do this. Say, wc with partial grav vac and glass cleaning. Then in a couple of days if everything stays stable, clean some filter media. Then in a couple more days (and everything stays stable), clean some more glass and grav vac another section. If you see any spikes in parameters at any point, then wait a bit longer between cleanings. Eventually, as your tank becomes more established, you should be able to do gravel vacs and glass cleaning on a regular basis without any issues. Filter media can be cleaned as needed. Let your parameters be the judge if your overcleaning or doing sufficient cleaning.

That is EXACTLY the kind of info and answers I was looking for!! Thanks!